No conviction for student with bullet

A visiting student appeared in Summary Court on Tuesday, when she pleaded guilty to possession of an unlicensed firearm, a single round of ammunition.

The defendant, a resident of Honduras, had been scheduled to return home on Thursday, Sept. 22, Crown counsel Kenneth Ferguson explained. At the airport, she put her handbag through the X-ray equipment and an officer observed the bullet, a .32 round.

She was cautioned and arrested. She told officials she had come into possession of the bullet on a beach in Honduras about two years ago. It was never her intention to bring it to Cayman, she said.

Attorney John Furniss explained further that the defendant had been with her boyfriend when she found the bullet and she had decided to keep the item as a memento. Magistrate Valdis Foldats thanked her for doing the right thing by pleading guilty. “We get these cases quite frequently,” he told her.

The magistrate said he would treat her as he did most offenders in similar circumstances – by ordering costs. In this case, customs officers were holding $800 cash as her bail bond. He therefore ordered costs of $800.